English Football has no Gentlemen Left

Assaulting a woman and then the surreptitious little #$%$ has the audacity to lie about it. Men like this are absolutely disgusting, let alone that this is a father of three with a pregnant wife at home. Only 18 months? He is a millionaire footballer FFS. He should be given a lengthier sentence and fined up the ar$e for his violent conduct. There is no room for this sort of stuff when you are playing at the highest level. Players need to be role models. You have Joey Barton, Steven Gerrard, and now this. It just seems to me that the footballing profession in England is pursued by thugs. What happened to the gentlemen of the game? RIP Bobby Robson.

The striker is on Wigan's books but he is facing the prospect of the sack as Latics chairman Dave Whelan has confirmed King has no future with the club.

"He is still our player and we have to follow the rules and regulations which mean we will have to give him 14 days' notice and his contract will be cancelled," Whelan told Sky Sports News.

"He is absolutely sacked, we will not tolerate players who get sent to jail for 18 months. We just will not tolerate that.

"We will follow the rules and regulations, serve him the 14 days, but as far as we are concerned he is finished with Wigan Athletic."

King, who was celebrating both his wife's pregnancy and scoring a winning goal hours earlier, was repeatedly "cold-shouldered" by women revellers in London's packed Soho Revue Bar last December.

The court was told that when the slightly-built university student rejected his advances, King, a father-of-three, replied "I'm just out of your league. I'm a millionaire." She replied: "I don't care who you are, take your multi-millions and get away from our table."

Prosecutors said he then lost his temper and in an outburst of "completely gratuitous violence" lashed out, "smashing" her to the floor

His single clenched fist blow was so powerful that two other revellers - one of them holding on to his arm - were also sent flying.

While bouncers moved in to restrain the muscular £5 million striker, friends rushed to the aid of his victim.

As she was helped to her feet, blood poured from her shattered nose, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.

The 29-year-old, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, claimed he was a victim of "mistaken identity".

But after hearing overwhelming evidence from a string of witnesses, including a football coach who insisted he was the assailant, the jury decided he was lying.

He was unanimously convicted of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old and causing actual bodily harm.